It is frequently desirable to transport various products, such as food or medicines, from one location to another location, such as from a point of manufacture to a point of use or consumption. Such products may be in transit for an extended period of time. For some products, extended time spent in transit is not detrimental to the product. For other products, however, extended time periods spent in transmit may cause the products to degrade, spoil, or otherwise become unsuitable for use upon arrival. Changes in temperature during transit can be particularly detrimental to some products. For example, many food products are warm or hot (or cool or cold) when manufactured and are intended to be consumed at a remote location while still warm or hot (or cool or cold). Similarly, some medicines or medical products must be kept cool or cold between manufacture and use.
Various containers have been developed to transport temperature-sensitive products such as food or medicine. For example, it is common to prepare a hot food such as pizza and store it in a cardboard box or package. For transport or delivery to a consumer at a remote location, the cardboard box or package may be placed in a thermally insulated carrying case.
Similarly, medical products may be transported in a thermally insulated container such as a cooler. However, existing containers for transporting temperature-sensitive products such as food or medicine suffer from one or more disadvantages. For example, some existing containers are not capable of maintaining a product at a desired temperature for a period of time sufficient to ensure delivery of the product to an end user while the product is still at the desired temperature. Additionally, other existing containers can maintain a product at a desired temperature for a desired period of time only through the use of active heating or cooling provided via a power supply or other additional component. Some existing containers also fail to provide adequate breathability and/or moisture control, such that the interior of the container may become too humid, thereby degrading the product within the interior. High humidity may be particularly detrimental to some food products, such as food products including vegetables such as broccoli. Existing containers may also provide limited rigidity or mechanical strength, such that these containers and their contents are more vulnerable to damage due to mechanical impact. Moreover, some existing containers are expensive to manufacture, maintain, and/or use.
Therefore, a need exists for improved product transport containers. Such containers should maintain a desired temperature of a product disposed and/or transported within such a container.